#then what...

✨️ What If... | Link's Awakening AU | Marink/ALttP Zelink

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"Are you ever not out here?" Link slid down the short, rocky bluff and used the sand to dampen his momentum. Toronbo Shores was damp from a heavy rainstorm only an hour before, so it wasn't too hard. Once he slowed, he adjusted the basket of green apples in his arms.

Ahead of him, his childhood friend sat: Marin. Her hair had changed again— faded back to its natural red after a long cycle of them trying any color they could think of. He thought about inviting her to try again— perhaps he'd find something better for himself than the current pink— but in letting his thoughts wander so far, he realized she hadn't answered his first question.

"Marin?" He set down his basket and rested beside her. The log creaked, and somehow that was what it took for her to notice him there.

"Link!" Her ear twitched. "Sorry, I was just... watching to see if the fishermen went back out. That storm caught them by surprise, huh?"

"No kidding. That's the hardest it's rained in a while." He stretched and yawned. "Guess it's probably good we didn't go too far."

"It's only ever when they plan to go out into the open sea!" She huffed. "One of these days I'm going to... I'm going to fight the clouds, so help me!"

Suddenly, Link understood the air was different. This wasn't Marin's typical daydream— she was upset. But why did the fishermen's inconvenience affect her when their families worked with cultivating the island?

Unless—

He gasped. "No way! You were gonna hop on, weren't you!?"

"No." Marin lied, only for her cheeks to puff up as though it physically hurt. She sighed. "Maybe I was."

"Huh? Why?"

Her head whirled to face him with an intensity that only came out in the rare occurrence she felt she had been wronged. "Why not, Link?"

"You suck at fishing." He murmured.

"This isn't about fishing! I... I don't think I can stay here forever, Link."

"There’s no reason not to!" He shook his head. That came out more like a plea. "I— I mean... My uncle used to sail. He never had many good things to say about it. He says it's perfect here."

"Nowhere's perfect, Link." Marin sighed. "This island... It's beautiful, and welcoming, and peaceful... but it can't be all there is."

Growing up, they had always talked about seeing the rest of the ocean. They had always played games of a distant kingdom where they were heroes. They'd pretend they grew wings and claws and disappeared into the sunlight... but that's all it was, right? Pretend?

Link swallowed. It felt wrong, but he almost hoped it wasn't.

"But what made you wanna just... disappear?" Without me? "You can tell me, can't you?"

She took a deep breath through her nose. Her eyes trailed back to the sky, as if the stars that began to poke through could tell her what to say.

Eventually, she must have found something. "...Marin... isn't my real name."

"Huh?"

The girl exhaled. She reached for her satchel bag, of which Link had set his basket beside, and plopped it onto her lap. "I found something in my father's stuff. It belonged to my mother." She reached in, and out came a little chest. Inside that chest was a collection of junk— but it was shiny junk. A potato flute, a compass, a pendant... A note. "It says I was meant for something— born to be someone else— but it... stops there. The rest of the ink is blotted out with water. Blotted out!"

For a moment, he forgot how to speak as well. In some attempt at confused comfort, his hand snuck over hers. "...Is this about our dream?"

"I... I don't know." She turned her head away. Though the sun's last sliver disappeared from the horizon, the storm's last clouds rolled away with it. "I'm sorry."

"Hey. Marin, I'll... I'll help you figure this out." He stammered. "Then things will start to make sense again. I promise."

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